EAST RUTHERFORD — Victor Cruz spent extra time preparing for the Giants’ return to MeLife Stadium last night with one of his newest teammates.

Because rookie running back Michael Cox is a UMass graduate who would be making his first NFL start as the Giants tried to recover from an 0-6 start at the expense of the 1-4 Vikings, Cruz knew the pressure that would be on the 7thround draft pick, who got the call to join newly-signed Giant Peyton Hollis in a makeshift backfield trying to offset the absence of Brandon Jacobs, who didn’t start because of a lingering hamstring problem.

“Michael is a good guy. I want him to be relaxed and do what he can do,” said Cruz. “I knew he’ll be nervous, who wouldn’t be in your first start. I was.”

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That was three years ago when Cruz, the free agent out of UMass, got the call from coach Tom Coughlin and quickly became Eli Manning’s most reliable receiver.

“I had faith that I would get my chance and I wanted to be ready when it came. That’s what he (Cox) has to do,” said Cruz.

Cruz’s star started to climb with a 74-yard touchdown catch at the Eagles, one of two he had in that game. Two weeks later he had eight catches for 161 yards and went on to have at least 119 receiving yards in five of the last seven games.

In the 2010 season it was Cruz who started the Super Bowl-winning run with a huge game and a 92-yard touchdown catch against the Jets.

Cruz has been the Giants’ best offensive weapon in this dismal first half of the season. He has done his part to pay back the G-Men for his new $43 million contract with 35 catches for 541 yards and four touchdowns.

But no wins to show for that productivity.

“I think everybody is on the same page, on the same accord,” said Cruz. “I think we’ve got to get this done. I think we just all know what’s at stake.

“We all know we have to get our first win under our belts. We need it, and I think this is going to be a good start for us.

“The cohesiveness is definitely still there. We all believe in each other. We all understand that we can get the job done. We believe in this locker room. So I think it’s just going to take a full team effort, and I think this is going to be the first week we get our victory,” promised Cruz.

“We just have to take it one game at a time. I think we understand that we dug ourselves a pretty good hole and we’re truthful with that within ourselves,” added Cruz.

“I think we’ve just got to take it. We want to take it one game at a time and once we get our first win, we feel like we can get on a little bit of a roll. We’ve just got to focus on getting our first win and then we can go from there.

“People outside of this locker room don’t surprise me anymore. People say a lot of things and we believe in our quarterback. We believe in Eli Manning. He’s our guy and we’re behind him 110 percent and we don’t think anything otherwise.

“This game with Minnesota it’s going to have a big impact. I think they’re going to crowd the line a little bit, especially if we have early success. I think they’re going to crowd the line and we’re just going to put some ownership on our receivers to catch the ball well, move the ball down field and so it’s going to be a full team effort,” said Cruz.